The Rs 2-a-kg rice may have scripted a successful 'political' story in the State, but it has failed to translate into a successful 'anti-hunger' story. This is not a general assumption rather the scientific inference of a well-researched study by Orissa MDG Forum a joint venture of Unicef, Orissa, and Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB) released here today. Majority of the tribal people in Bhatangpadar panchayat (site of the study) in...

On the eve of a decision on the draft food security law by the Sonia Gandhi headed National Advisory Council, the government unveiled a blueprint for a complete revamp of the public distribution system, or PDS. State food ministers on Tuesday approved time bound changes in the PDS to plug the weaknesses in the system to create the appropriate delivery mechanism for meeting legal commitments of the proposed law. The...

India is incredible (after shining), with the fastest growth rate, an emerging demographic dividend and innovative brains for the globe. But the vast majority in rural India — employed in agriculture, small-scale and tiny industries, self-employed, and with no assets — does not find it so. This government, claiming inclusive growth for the grossly deprived and poor, has not taken actions to bring down prices of essential food items, unprecedented...

Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto turned classical capitalism on its head with his trickle-up theory: that if you create wealth at the bottom of the pyramid, it will find its way up. de Soto, president of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, speaks to The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV’s Walk the Talk on the need for the poor to be able to participate in the global economy...

The world’s largest and most comprehensive database on food, agriculture and hunger is now open to the public, free of charge, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today. Previously, it was possible to download a limited amount of information from FAOSTAT, but access to large amounts of data required a paid annual subscription. The database contains over one million data points covering more than 200 countries and territories. Hafez Ghanem,...